The Universal Principle of Faith

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The faith of the New Heaven and of the New Church in its universal form is as follows:

The Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, came into the world to subjugate the hells and to glorify His Human; and without this no mortal could have been saved; and those are saved who believe in Him.

This is called the faith in its universal form because this is the universal principle of faith; and the universal principle of faith must be in each thing and in all things of it.

• It is a universal principle of faith that God is one in essence and in person, in whom is a Divine trinity, and that He is the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ.

• It is a universal principle of faith that no mortal could have been saved unless the Lord had come into the world.

• It is a universal principle of faith that He came into the world to remove hell from man, and that He did remove it by means of contests with it and victories over it, and thereby He subdued it and reduced it to order and made it obedient to Himself.

• It is a universal principle of faith that He came into the world to glorify His Human which He took on in the world, that is, to unite it with the Divine from which [are all things], and thereby He eternally holds hell in order and under obedience to Himself. As this could be accomplished only by means of temptations admitted into His Human, even to the last of them, which was the passion of the cross, He endured even that.

These are the universal principles of faith relating to the Lord.

The universal principle of faith on man's part is that he should believe in the Lord; for by believing in Him there is conjunction with Him and thereby salvation. To believe in the Lord is to have confidence that He saves; and as only those who live rightly can have this confidence, this, too, is meant by believing in Him. And this the Lord teaches in John:

This is the Father's will, that everyone that believeth in the Son may have eternal life (John 6:40)

and again:

He that believeth in the Son hath eternal life; but he that believeth not in the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him (John 3:36).

(True Christian Religion 2)

Two Kinds of Dominion

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

When the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house. He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. (Matthew 12:24-30)

Dominion from evil and falsity is altogether contrary to dominion from good and truth.

• Dominion from evil and falsity consists in desiring to make all slaves
• Dominion from good and truth in desiring to make all free.
• Dominion from evil and falsity consists in destroying all.
• Dominion from good and truth in saving all.

From which it is evident that dominion from evil and falsity is of the devil, and that dominion from good and truth is of the Lord. That the two kinds of dominion are altogether contrary to each other may be seen from the Lord's words in Matthew 12:24-30 (above); also from His saying that no one can serve two masters (Matt. 6:24; Luke 16:13).

(from Arcana Coelestia 1749:3)

Where Divine Providence Leads

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The Divine Providence differs from all other leading and guidance in the fact that Providence continually regards what is eternal, and continually leads unto salvation, and this through various states, sometimes glad, sometimes sorrowful, which the man cannot possibly comprehend; but still they are all profitable to his eternal life.

(from Arcana Coelestia 8560)

What Is Meant By Loving the Lord and Loving the Neighbor

Selection from Divine Love ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

So far as man is in the love of use,

so far is he in the Lord,

so far he loves the Lord and loves the neighbor,

and so far he is a man.

From the love of uses we are taught what is meant by loving the Lord and loving the neighbor, also what is meant by being in the Lord and being a man.

• To love the Lord means to do uses from Him and for His sake.
• To love the neighbor means to do uses to the church, to one's country, to human society, and to the fellow-citizen.
• To be in the Lord means to be a use.
• And to be a man means to perform uses to the neighbor from the Lord for the Lord's sake.

To love the Lord means to do uses from Him and for His sake, for the reason that all the good uses that man does are from the Lord; good uses are goods, and it is well known that these are from the Lord. Loving these is doing them, for what a man loves he does. No one can love the Lord in any other way; for uses, which are goods, are from the Lord, and consequently are Divine; yea they are the Lord Himself with man. These are the things that the Lord can love. The Lord cannot be conjoined by love to any man, and consequently cannot enable man to love Him, except through His own Divine things; for man from himself cannot love the Lord; the Lord Himself must draw him and conjoin him to Himself; and therefore loving the Lord as a Person, and not loving uses, is loving the Lord from oneself, which is not loving. He that performs uses or goods from the Lord performs them also for the Lord's sake. These things may be illustrated by the celestial love in which the angels of the third heaven are. These angels are in love to the Lord more than the angels in the other heavens are; and they have no idea that loving the Lord is anything else than doing goods which are uses, and they say that uses are the Lord with them. By uses they understand the uses and good works of ministry, administration, and employment, as well with priests and magistrates as with merchants and workmen; the good works that are not connected with their occupation they do not call uses; they call them alms, benefactions, and gratuities.

Loving the neighbor means performing uses to the church, one's country, society, and the fellow-citizen, because these are the neighbor in the broad and in the limited sense; neither can these be loved otherwise than by the uses that belong to each one's office. A priest loves the church, the country, society, the citizen, and thus the neighbor, if he teaches and leads his hearers from zeal for their salvation. Magistrates and officers love the church, the country, society, the citizen, and thus the neighbor, if they discharge their respective functions from zeal for the common good; judges, if from zeal for justice; merchants, if from zeal for sincerity; workmen, if from rectitude; servants, if from faithfulness; and so forth. When with all these there is faithfulness, rectitude, sincerity, justice, and zeal, there is the love, of use from the Lord; and from Him they have love to the neighbor in the broad and in the limited sense; for who that in heart is faithful, upright, sincere and just, does not love the church, the country, and his fellow-citizen?

From what has now been said it is plain that loving the Lord is performing uses from Him, and loving the neighbor is performing uses to him, and the object on account of whom uses are performed is the neighbor, use, and the Lord; and that love thus returns to Him from whom it is. For every love as source through love for its object returns to love as source, which return constitutes its reciprocal. And love continually goes forth and returns through deeds, which are uses, since to love is to do. For love, unless it becomes deed, ceases to be love, since deed is the effect of love's end, and is that in which it exists.

So far as man is in the love of use so far is he in the Lord; because so far is he in the Church, and so far in heaven; and the church and heaven from the Lord are as one man; the forms of which (called higher or lower organic forms, also interior and exterior) are made up of all who love uses by doing them; and the uses themselves are what compose that Man, because it is a spiritual Man, that does not consist of persons, but of the uses with them. Yet all those are there who receive from the Lord the love of uses; and these are they who do them for the neighbor's sake, for use's sake, and for the Lord's sake; and since this Man is the Divine that proceeds from the Lord, and the Divine proceeding is the Lord in the church and in heaven, it follows that they all are in the Lord.

These are a Man, because every use that in any way promotes the general good or serves the public, is a man, beautiful and perfect according to the quality of the use, and at the same time the quality of its affection. The reason of this is, that in each single part of the human body there is, from its use, an idea of the whole; for the part looks to the whole as its source, and the whole sees the part in itself, as its agent. It is from this idea of the whole in each part that each use therein is a man, in small as well as in greater parts; there are organic forms in the part as well as in the whole; in fact, the parts of parts, which are interior, are men more than the composite parts, because all perfection increases toward the interiors.

For all organic forms in man are composed of interior forms, and these of forms still more interior, even to inmosts, by means of which communication is given with every affection and thought of man's mind. For man's mind, in all its particulars, extends into all things of his body; its range is into all things of the body; for it is the very form of life. Unless the mind had such a field, there would be neither mind nor man. From this it is that the choice and decision of man's will are determined instantly, and produce and determine actions, just as if thought and will were themselves in the things of the body, and not above them. That every least thing in man, from its use, is a man, does not fall into the natural idea as it does into the spiritual; in the spiritual idea man is not a person, but a use; for the spiritual idea is apart from an idea of person, as it is apart from an idea of matter, space, and time; therefore when one sees another in heaven, he sees him indeed as a man, but he thinks of him as a use. An angel also appears in face according to the use in which he is, and affection for the use makes the life of the face. From all this it can be seen that every good use is in form a man.

(Divine Love 13 adjoined to Apocalypse Explained)

Everything is Impossible which is Contrary to Order

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And Moses' father-in-law said unto him, The word that thou doest is not good. Wearing thou wilt wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee, because the word is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to do it, thou alone. Now hear my voice, I will counsel thee, and God shall be with thee.  Exodus 18:17

That this signifies that it is not possible because not in conformity with order, is evident from the signification of "a heavy word," as being that it is not possible. That "a heavy word" here denotes that it is not possible, is evident from what precedes, namely, that wearing he would wear away, and the people that were with him, by which is signified that the truth which has been implanted would perish; and also from what follows, namely, Thou art not able to do it, thou alone; and afterward, If thou do this word, thou shalt be able to stand; by which is meant impossibility unless a change is made.

That it is not possible because not in conformity with order, is because in the other life everything is possible that is in conformity with order.

The Divine truth which proceeds from the Lord is what makes order, and is order itself.

Consequently as everything that is according to Divine truth is according to order, it is possible; and as everything that is contrary to Divine truth is contrary to order, it is impossible.

That this is the case may appear more evident from examples:

It is according to order that they who have lived well shall be saved, and that they who have lived ill shall be condemned. Hence it is impossible that they who have lived well should be sent into hell, and that they who have lived ill should be raised into heaven. Consequently it is impossible that they who are in hell can of the Lord's pure mercy be brought out therefrom into heaven and be saved; for it is the reception of the Lord's mercy while they lived in the world through which everyone is saved. They who receive it then are in the other life in the Lord's mercy, for they are then in the capacity of receiving it there. To give it to others, and in general to everyone at pleasure, provided they have faith, and thus believe that they are cleansed from sins, is impossible, because it is contrary to order, that is, contrary to the Divine which is order.

It is according to order that faith and charity be implanted in freedom and not under compulsion, and that the faith and charity which have been implanted in freedom, endure; but not if they have been implanted under compulsion. The reason is that what is done in freedom is insinuated into the affection, and thus into the will of man, and is therefore appropriated; but not what is done under compulsion. Consequently it is impossible for man to be saved unless, seeing that he has been born in evil, he is allowed to do evil, and to desist from evil. When in this freedom he desists from evil of himself, the affection of truth and good is insinuated by the Lord, whereby he has freedom to receive the things which are of faith and charity, for freedom belongs to the affection. From this it is plain that it is impossible to compel man to salvation. If this could be done, all men in the world would be saved.

It is according to order for all in the other life to be associated together according to the life which they have acquired to themselves in the world; the evil with the evil, and the good with the good. Consequently it is not possible for the evil and the good to be together; neither is it possible for those to be in good who are evil, because good and evil are opposites, and the one destroys the other. For this reason also it is plain that it is not possible for those to be saved who are in hell; thus that it is not possible for salvation to be from mercy alone however a man has lived. They who are in hell and are there tormented, impute the torments there to the Divine, saying that the Divine can take away their torment if He will, because He is omnipotent; but that He will not, and that therefore He is the cause of their torment; for he who can and will not, they say, is the cause. But to take away such torments is impossible, because it is contrary to order; for if they were taken away, the evil would rise up against the good, and would subjugate the angels themselves, and destroy heaven. But the Divine wills nothing but good, namely, the happiness of the good, and for the sake of this, the bridling, and at the same time, the amendment, of the wicked. This being the end — the end of the Divine love and of mercy itself — it is not possible that torments should be taken away from him who is in hell.

From these examples it can be seen that everything is impossible which is contrary to order, howsoever it may appear as possible to those who do not know the arcana of heaven.

(Arcana Cœlestia 8700)

The Faith of the Church

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

No other faith is meant as being the internal of the church than that which is of love or charity, that is, which is from love or charity.

Faith, in a general sense, is all the doctrinal teaching of the church. But doctrine [doctrinale] separated from love or charity, by no means makes the internal of the church, for doctrine is only knowledge which is of the memory, and this exists also with the worst men, and even with infernals.

But the doctrine that is from charity, or that is of charity, does make the internal of the church, for this is of the life.

The life itself is the internal of all worship; and so is all doctrine that flows from the life of charity and it is this doctrine that is of faith which is here meant. That it is this faith which is the internal of the church, may be seen from this consideration alone, that he who has the life of charity is acquainted with all things of faith. If you will, just examine all doctrinal things, and see what and of what quality they are; do they not all pertain to charity, and consequently to the faith that is from charity?

Take only the Precepts of the Decalogue. The first of these is to worship the Lord God. He who has the life of love or of charity worships the Lord God, because this is his life. Another precept is to keep the Sabbath. He who is in the life of love, or in charity, keeps the Sabbath holy, for nothing is more sweet to him than to worship the Lord, and to glorify Him every day. The precept, "Thou shalt not kill," is altogether of charity. He who loves his neighbor as himself, shudders at doing anything that injures him, still more at killing him. So too the precept, "Thou shalt not steal;" for he who has the life of charity would rather give of his own to his neighbor, than take anything away from him. And so with the precept, "Thou shalt not commit adultery;" he who is in the life of charity the rather guards his neighbor's wife, lest anyone should offer her such injury, and regards adultery as a crime against conscience, and such as destroys conjugial love and its duties. To covet the things that are the neighbor's is also contrary to those who are in the life of charity; for it is of charity to desire good to others from one's self and one's own; such therefore by no means covet the things which are another's.

These are the precepts of the Decalogue which are more external doctrinal things of faith; and these are not only known in the memory by him who is in charity and its life, but are in his heart; and he has them inscribed upon himself, because they are in his charity, and thus in his very life; besides other things of a dogmatic nature which he in like manner knows from charity alone; for he lives according to a conscience of what is right. The right and the truth which he cannot thus understand and explore, he believes simply or from simplicity of heart to be so because the Lord has said so; and he who so believes does not do wrong, even though what he thus accepts is not true in itself, but apparent truth.

As for example, if anyone believes that the Lord is angry, punishes, tempts, and the like. Or if he holds that the bread and wine in the Holy Supper are significative, or that the flesh and blood are present in some way in which they explain it - it is of no consequence whether they say the one thing or the other, although there are few who think about this matter, or even if they do think about it, provided this is done from a simple heart, because they have been so instructed, and nevertheless live in charity: these, when they hear that the bread and wine in the internal sense signify the Lord's love toward the whole human race, and the things which are of this love, and man's reciprocal love to the Lord and the neighbor, they forthwith believe, and rejoice that it is so.

Not so they who are in doctrinal things and not in charity; these contend about everything, and condemn all whoever they may be that do not say (they call it "believe") as they do. From all this everyone can see that love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor are the internal of the church.

( from Arcana Coelestia 1798)

How A Person Acquires Wisdom

Selection from Conjugial Love ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Man possesses knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. Knowledge is a matter of knowing facts, intelligence of reasoning, and wisdom of how to live. Wisdom regarded in its fullness takes in knowing, reasoning and how to live. Knowing comes first, the reason is formed by this means, and wisdom is formed by them both, arising when people live according to reason as dictated by the truths which have been learned. Wisdom is, therefore, a matter both of reason and of living taken together; and it becomes wisdom when it is a matter of reason and so of how to live; but it is wisdom when it has become a matter of how to live, and so of reason. The most ancient peoples of this world knew of no wisdom but that of how to live — this was the wisdom of those they called 'wise men' (sophi ). But the ancients after this earliest period recognized the wisdom of reason as wisdom — they were called 'philosophers' (philosophi*). Nowadays many people also call knowledge wisdom, for educated and learned men, even those who merely know a great deal — are called wise. So has wisdom declined from its heights to the trough.

But some remarks must be added on what wisdom is like when it arises, and then when it reaches its full development.

The matters to do with the church, what are called spiritual matters, occupy the inmost position in a person. Matters to do with the state, called civil matters, occupy a lower place; and those which are to do with knowledge, experience and skill, called natural matters, make up their footstool.

The reason matters to do with the church, those called spiritual, occupy the inmost position in a person is that they establish a link with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord; nothing else comes into a person from the Lord by way of heaven.

The reason why matters to do with the state, called civil matters, occupy a place below the spiritual ones is that they establish a link with the world, for they belong to the world. These are the statutes, laws and regulations which bind people together to form a fixed and stable society and state.

The reason why matters to do with knowledge, experience and skill make up their footstool is that they are closely linked to the five bodily senses, and these are at the outermost position, on which the inner positions, those of the mind, and the inmost positions, those of the soul, rest.

Now since the matters which fall in the realm of the church, spiritual matters as they are called, are lodged at the inmost position, and since what is lodged there makes up the head, and what comes beneath them, civil matters as they are called, make up the body, and what comes beneath them, natural matters as they are called, make up the feet, it is evident that when these three elements are arranged in the proper order, a person is in a state of perfection. For in these circumstances they exert similar influence. Just as what belongs to the head influences the body, and through the body the feet, so too spiritual matters influence civil ones, and, by way of these, natural ones. Now since spiritual matters are illuminated by heaven's light, it is plain that they have light to illuminate the next steps in order, and give them life by their heat, which is love. When this happens, a person acquires wisdom.

If, as said earlier, wisdom is to do with how to live and so with reason, it may be asked what is the wisdom of living.

To sum it up briefly, it is shunning evils, because they damage the soul, the state and the body; and doing good because these actions benefit the soul, the state and the body. This is the kind of wisdom meant by that with which conjugial love forms a tie — for it does this by shunning the evil of adultery as a plague to the soul, the state and the body. Since that wisdom wells up from spiritual sources, which have to do with the church, it follows that conjugial love depends upon the state of the church in a person, which depends on the state of his wisdom.

The more a person become spiritual, the more he has truly conjugial love. For it is the spirituality of the church which make a person spiritual.

(from Conjugial Love 130)

* Literally 'lovers of wisdom'